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The Imaginary Orient
Stefan Koppelkamm
其他書名
Exotic Buildings of the 18th and 19th Centuries in Europe
出版
Edition Axel Menges
, 2015
主題
Architecture / Criticism
Architecture / History / General
Architecture / Regional
ISBN
3936681775
9783936681772
URL
http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=2HyHaO6xEogC&hl=&source=gbs_api
註釋
In the 18th century the idea of the landscape garden, which had originated in England, spread all over Europe. The geometry of the Baroque park was abandoned in favour of a »natural± design. At the same time the garden became the »land of illusion±: Chinese pagodas, Egyptian tombs, and Turkish mosques, along with Gothic stables and Greek and Roman temples, formed a miniature world in which distance mingled with the past. The keen interest in a fairy-tale China, which was manifested not only in the gardens but also in the chinoiseries of the Rococo, abated in the 19th century. The increasing expansion of the 0European colonial powers was reflected in new exotic fashions. While in England it was primarily the conquest of the Indian subcontinent that captured the imagination, for France the occupation of Algiers triggered an Orient-inspired fashion that spread from Paris to encompass the entire Continent, and found its expression in paintings, novels, operas, and buildings. This »Orient±, which could not be clearly defined geographically, was characterized by Islamic culture: It extended around the Mediterranean Sea from Constantinople to Granada. There, it was the Alhambra that fascinated writers and architects. The Islamic styles seemed especially appropriate for »buildings of a secular and cheerful character ±. In contrast to ancient Egyptian building forms, which, being severe and monumental, were preferably used for cemetery buildings, prisons or libraries, they promised earthly sensuous pleasures. The promise of happiness associated with an Orient staged by architectural means was intended to guarantee the commercial success of coffeehouses and music halls, amusement parks, and steam baths.
